Bulgarian for several yrs,(also Syrian,but that is a different story, I find them to be more like Anglican in ways...)They were and are great folks, but I never heard the EO present the gospel in a practical, life changing way. How to live a new life, get rid of the old, etc. Always seemed to be on the greatness of the Church.Plenty of hymns/chants, icon kissing,prostrations, etc, lots more could be said,but think you understand my point. Like I said this is my experience..
Dear Christina, I found an A to Z directory of UK orthodox churches with English services. But sometimes not all churches are on the list. Another way to search is to use Google maps and type in: Orthodox near ___________ Put your city in the blank. Let me know how it goes. I think typically when an Orthodox lives more than an hour away from an EO church they make the journey a few times a year on the major holidays.
To say that the Orthodox church exalts itself and not Jesus, along with many other transparently incorrect statements against it is offensive to faithful Orthodox in the UK and the masses known to all to disprove this claim by their suffering for their exaltation of Jesus in the Middle East. My response was more charitable than laying out the implications of making misportrayals.
An example would be if I read that someone has spent years in the Orthodox church, where long services are dedicated to singing Alleluias, hymns, and praises exalting Christ God, and that the person then claims that the Orthodox church "exalts itself instead of Jesus".
In this case the thought that he expressed and typed out was displayed on my computer screen. And what I saw and read with my eyes was the wrong information that he had formulated in a sentence and typed. In other words, my eyes correctly saw his wrong, typed out information. And yes, your eyes can "see" information: https://www.google.com/search?num=1...0...1c.1.64.serp..7.2.288...30i10.OwN_8lBpVoQ
Thanks Rakovsky, I have searched already. There is a Church where the services are in Romanian about 1/2 hour from where I live. The nearest with services in Engish is about 45 minutes away, but only meets monthly on a Saturday - I may well visit this Church. Others are a lot further away and yes I may visit one of those Churches less frequently.
I would be curious if someone who knew Latin could understand much Romanian. I don't get Romanian even though I know a bit of Spanish. The best I have done is get a side by side Romanian English liturgy book so that I could follow the Romanian service in English with the book in front of me. It was ok, but the sermon of course I missed. I drive 35 min. To church in the countryside.
I'm surprised you don't have any OCA parishes in your area....they use English and seem to have a lot of parishes. But I guess it depends on the State you're in, and if you're near a large city. There's actually a Western-Rite Antiochian Orthodox church about an hour away from where I live.
One of the delights I experienced when I lived in Papua New Guinea was to go to the Eucharist in the village over the road where the liturgy was in Orokaiva (a language of which I perhaps knew half a dozen words). Suddenly I was dispensed from the need to understand the words, and concentrate on meaning, I was free to worship as the main thing, the only thing, whilst the liturgy had enough shape and form to sustain me, it was not about the words. The words are important, and the words will get you so far, and sometimes they can hold us back. I think to sustain your spiritual life you need to worship in your own language, however every now and again if the liturgy is in another language, it is worth remembering that liturgy is its own language and it can be quite liberating. XXIV. Of Speaking in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the people understandeth. It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church to have public Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understanded of the people. Please do not take me to be contradicting Article 24, however if you know what is going on, that can be enough.
If your reply was to me, then I live in the UK not the US - no OCA churches in the UK. There are Antiochian, ROCOR and some others, but none that close to where I live.
Yes, I know what you mean and I would certainly be happy to visit the Romanian speaking Church near me, but I don't think it would be a Church I could go to regularly.
The main differences I see are: Division or disbelief among Anglicans on the real presence in the food Opposition to holy relics by Anglican tradition Opposition to monasteries Making the king the direct head of the church Filioque Some lesser differences that may not apply to all Anglicans Augustinian idea of inheritance biologically of original sin Women clergy issue of homosexuality value put on ikons or religious paintings bc of ikonoclastic period of Anglicanism weaker concept of Apostolic succession I think that it will be very very hard to get Anglicans as a whole to give these up, but please tell me if I am wrong abut that. Maybe some Anglo Catholics would. In Orthodoxy we have Western Rite Orthodox canonical churches in our communion that have accepted the EO position on these questions. They tend to be western Christians who joined Orthodoxy but want to keep a preschism western culture and set of services, which is fine and understandable from the EO POV.
Interesting fact: EO's highest primate, "the Ecumenical Patriarch" has to be allowed/accepted by Muslims, in Turkey. They control and decide if he gets to be elected or not. Also in the Byzantine days the Emperor was considered the Vicar of Christ, the title later taken on by the Popes. He was the head of the Byzantine church and appointed all EO bishops and lower clergy. In more recent days, "Caesaropapism was most notorious in the Tsardom of Russia when Ivan IV the Terrible assumed the title Czar in 1547 and subordinated the Russian Orthodox Church to the state. This level of caesaropapism far exceeded that of the Byzantine Empire. Caesaropapism in Russia was taken to a new level in 1721, when Peter the Great abolished the patriarchate and formally made the church a department of his government formally known as the beginning of the Russian Empire."
Stalwart, Wikipedia says in its article on the Russian church: 《Structure and organization The Russian Orthodox Church is organized in a hierarchical structure. The highest level of authority is represented by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, head of the Moscow Patriarchate. 》
First point - yes, there are different interpretations of the real presence within the Anglican communion Second point - I would say that there are differences of opinion with regards to Holy Relics rather than opposition to them. Third point - Henry VIII might have dissolved the monestsries, but I believe that there are Anglican monestsries these days. Fourth Point - the Queen is, nominally, the Head of the Church of England, but she doesn't preach, teach, attend councils or anything like that. She has far less involvement that the Kings and Queens of the past had. If you asked most English people, they would say that the Archbishop of Canterbury is the Head of the C of E. Fifth point yes, generally Anglicans accept the Filioque (but not all!) and the Anglican Church version of the Creed contains the Filioque The differences are not just between individual Anglicans, but between different Anglican Churches. On your "lesser differences": Yes, there are different interpretations with regards to original sin, with, I would imagine, most Anglicans agreeing with the Augustinian definition Women clergy - very mixed views and opinions on this one between individual Anglicans and between different Anglican Churches Homosexuality - again very mixed views - in England, whilst gay couples can marry, they cannot do so in Church at the moment Icons - not generally used in Angkican Churches in the same way as in the EO, BUTcetwinly many Anglican Churches make use of religious paintings, stained glass windows etc - see this from my own Church http://www.stmaryeastgrinstead.co.uk/guide/index.htm Apostolic Succession - in England I would have said that the concept was strong Because of some of the differences individual Anglicans and some Anglican Churches have left the communion - becoming Ordinariate, RC, Continuing etc.